Stannsoporfin, or tin (IV) mesoporphyrin IX dichloride, is an inhibitor of the enzyme heme oxygenase. Stannsoporfin has been proposed for therapeutic use in several diseases, such as infant hyperbilirubinemia (U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,902; U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,670; WO 94/28906) and psoriasis (U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,049). Because of this pharmaceutical utility, methods of preparing stannsoporfin are of great interest.
Infant hyperbilirubinemia (also known as infant jaundice or neonatal hyperbilirubinemia) occurs in a newborn when the liver is unable to conjugate bilirubin so it can be excreted at a rate commensurate with bilirubin formation. Bilirubin comes from the release of heme as part of the physiological conversion from fetal to adult hemoglobin at birth. The enzyme heme oxygenase oxidizes heme to biliverdin; the enzyme biliverdin reductase then reduces the biliverdin to bilirubin. Bilirubin at high serum levels is a neurotoxic substance. In adult humans, the liver rapidly converts bilirubin into a conjugated, excretable form. In newborn humans, however, the liver is still developing, and uptake and conjugation by the liver is not as efficient as in adults. Additionally, hemolysis may be taking place at a greater relative rate than in adults. All of these factors can lead to excessive bilirubin in the infant. For some infants, high serum levels of bilirubin can have detrimental physiological consequences. Bilirubin is yellow, and infants with excess bilirubin appear jaundiced, having a yellow tinge to their skin and to the whites of their eyes.
Infants who have highly elevated serum levels of bilirubin are at risk of developing kernicterus, a rare but potentially devastating neurological disorder which can result in severe life-long disabilities and complications such as athetosis, hearing loss, vision problems, and dental problems. (See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention World-Wide-Web.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/kernicterus.htm.) Accordingly, infants should be carefully monitored after birth, and therapeutic intervention should be commenced if an infant's bilirubin level is excessive. The American Academy of Pediatrics has published a Clinical Practice Guideline for evaluating newborns for hyperbilirubinemia and treating at-risk newborns; see Pediatrics 114:297-316 (2004). As health-care costs have risen in the United States, seemingly healthy newborns and their mothers are discharged rapidly, sometimes as quickly as 24 to 48 hours after birth. However, it is believed that this practice may have contributed to an increase in cases of kernicterus, which had been virtually eliminated from developed countries; see Hansen T W R, Acta Paediatr. 89:1155-1157 (2000)). Because early discharge can delay the detection of jaundice and hyperbilirubinemia in infants, effective means of treating hyperbilirubinemia rapidly are desirable. The unique medical status of the newborn also requires that any means of treatment be as safe as possible, as side effects that are tolerable in adults may be completely unacceptable in neonates.
Currently approved and commonly used treatments for hyperbilirubinemia include phototherapy and exchange transfusion. Phototherapy involves irradiating the newborn with light in the 430 to 490 nm range (blue light). The light converts bilirubin into lumirubin and photobilirubin, which are more readily excreted by the infant, and thus can result in a reduction of bilirubin levels.
Stannsoporfin (tin (IV) mesoporphyrin IX dichloride) has been demonstrated to be of therapeutic value in treating hyperbilirubinemia; see Valaes et al., Pediatrics 93:1-11 (1994) and Kappas et al., Pediatrics, 95:468-474 (1995). Other indications in which stannsoporfin can be used are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,440 (to increase the rate of heme excretion), WO 89/02269 (to counteract the toxicity of cancer therapy), U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,049 (to treat psoriasis) and other publications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,818,763, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0210048, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/096,359 disclose methods of synthesizing stannsoporfin. However, it is still desirable to develop methods to produce stannsoporfin at higher purity, due to the therapeutic advantages of using as pure a substance as possible and also due to the stringent requirements of regulatory agencies.
The current application discloses methods of synthesizing stannsoporfin at a heretofore unachieved level of purity, as well as large-scale preparations of pure stannsoporfin. The current application also discloses a new method of insertion of tin and other metals into porphyrin rings. This new method can significantly decrease the time required for synthesis of stannsoporfin.